E String Notes: Quick and Easy Fretboard Memorization Sheet

Learning the guitar E string notes will make your life as a guitar player far easier.

It’s foundational knowledge that you need to then learn the rest of the fretboard.

Because if you don’t know the guitar fretboard notes, you’ll be at a significant disadvantage when compared to the musicians who do and you’ll have a developmental handicap when moving onto more difficult and dynamic guitar playing.

So yeah, it’s boring. But if you don’t learn it now, you’re going to have a harder time learning the more interesting things, moving forward.

However, I can show you a few techniques that will shorten the amount of time that you have to spend on it and get you through the memorization process a lot quick.

And the tactic is to simply start with the low A and E string notes.

Guitar Education Resources I Use

I often refer to Guitar Tricks courses and video lessons, which to this point have amassed a library of well over 10k videos.

Keep in mind that the sixth string and the first string are both tuned to E. Therefore, the notes on those two strings will be the same.

If you’ve learned the sixth and fifth strings, you’re halfway there.

You can then use octaves to identify notes on the fourth and third strings. But we’ll delve into that more later.

For now, let’s focus on the A and E string notes.

Standard tuning is assumed.

E String Notes:

As far as memorizing this pattern, I started from the F at the bottom and worked my way up to the E at the 12th fret. It can also help to only memorize the letter notes by themselves and then work on the flats and sharps.

At the 12th fret, the notes simply start over again.

These natural notes are the most important to be able to readily recognize, as you can find your sharps and flats based on their location.

Now for the A string notes.

A String Notes:

In this case, the open note is an A since we’re in standard tuning. You can see that it follows the exact same pattern as before, starting at A instead of E.

Let’s look at some octaves so we can identify the notes on the fourth and third string as well.

Using Octaves

Short of just memorizing the notes for the fourth and third strings, you can use octaves to quickly determine those notes provided you’ve already taken the time to memorize the notes on the fifth and sixth strings.

These two notes are both the same since the interval between them is 12 semitones (frets). That means they are exactly one octave apart. Thus the note on the third fret, a G, corresponds to the note on the fifth fret which is also a G.

Again, the same principle can be applied. Since the note at the eighth fret is an F, you can tell that the note at the tenth fret, on the fourth string, is also an F.

As Justin goes on to explain, the same thing is true of the root notes on the fifth string, where the octave equivalent can be found on the third string.

E|-------- B|-------- G|-----5-- D|-------- A|--3----- E|--------

In the above example, each note is a C.

The Rest of the Strings

I’ve created graphics for the fourth, third and second strings, if you prefer to memorize them that way. Just keep in mind that the sequence of notes will be the same, and different strings will only dictate that you’re starting with a different open note.

D String Notes:

G String Notes:

B String Notes:

Memorization Techniques

Most people combine the octave method with some raw memorization. If you decide to go this route, wait until you’re really comfortable with the A and E string notes before you move on.

Once you’re ready, you can start on the fourth string by counting from the first fret up to the 12th and naming each note as you go. If you get stuck, use the octave method to get yourself going again and go through each string several times.

Remember that the sixth and first strings are both going to be the same since they’re both an open E.

Your Thoughts

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